Children
by In Darkness Is Light
Summary: Tandem from In Darkness Is Light and snappa! Behind this facade, we're still so young. Within these gates, we're still just kids. KakaRin. Please read and review!


**Snappa's A/N: **Konichiwa! Before you begin reading, there's something a bit unique about this story which I think I should explain to you readers out there. This is in fact a tandem story! A tandem story is when you write one paragraph of a story, ship it off to a different author, they write another paragraph and give it back to you, you write a paragraph, so on, so on. In Darkness Is Light and I wrote this story together and it has been SO MUCH fun. Writing a story this way really challenges your writing skills, especially when the other writer puts a cliff-hanger at the end of their paragraph for you to add on to, which we've both done. XD It's been great working with such an awesome writer as In Darkness Is Light, everybody should really read her fics, they rule! Well, after some editing, the final product of our tandem is presented here, hope you enjoy!

**In Darkness Is Light's Author Note: **Welcome one and all, to the best tandem…in the hall? Well, I suppose that was a failed attempt. As snappa mentioned in her author's note, this is a tandem fic. Now for the most part you'll be seeing each of our paragraphs, but as they started to get _much_ longer as the tandem fic progressed, we had to split them up properly into smaller paragraphs and separate quotations and stuff like that. XD I must say that I too have had _a lot _of fun writing this and if anyone feels up to the challenge, I'd definitely recommend taking on a tandem project! Haha, snappa, you're too kind! Just like snappa mentioned that you should read my fics, I say that you should read hers! They're very good, and Dump, Worm, Nutcase is the most hilarious thing I've ever read! Alright, I'd say that I need to conclude my author's note and let all you lovely readers/potential reviewers start actually reading the fic! Hope you enjoy! :)** snappa, if you are reading this, I will really miss all the tandem writing and the correspondance. It's been great fun. :D**

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Kakashi stared at himself in the mirror, more specifically, at his Sharingan eye. A year since this gift was imparted to him had passed, and all of a sudden it had started stinging excruciatingly. The sudden attention to this eye brought back a rush of memories, in turn causing a massive headache to erupt in Kakashi's head. Groaning, Kakashi pulled his hitai-ate back over his now throbbing eye and decided to pay Rin a visit. Hopefully she would know how to quell this pain. He worried that she might get upset studying his eye --Obito's Sharingan– but he was in way too much pain to be thinking that far ahead. Grabbing his rucksack he quickly exited his apartment and headed towards the hospital where he knew Rin would be training.

As usual, he found her in the children's ward, studying under the head nurse who once again berated him for walking into the ward with muddy sandals. Apologizing once again, to which the older woman heaved a sigh and rolled her eyes, he asked if he could see Rin. The head nurse, who was used to him coming by to see the younger medic all the time nodded her head and muttered something about overprotective boyfriends under her breath. He found Rin reading stories to the kids in the ward, all of them listening intently to her every word, gazing at the pictures in the small book. He and the head nurse waited for her to finish the story before they walked over and interrupted "story time". Rin, puzzled as to why Kakashi was visiting her in broad daylight – he only came when she worked night shift to walk her home – asked the boy what his business in the hospital was. Kakashi told her about his eye hurting and Rin nodded, a serious look on her face, telling him that she'd take a look at him when her shift finished in five minutes. He agreed, waited for her to finish, and walked by her side when she exited the ward.

In an examining room Rin told Kakashi to sit down, he obeyed as she went to a cupboard and collected a few things. Coming to stand in front of him, she removed his hitai-ate and stooped over to stare into his Sharingan. 'So the pain started today?' she asked, frowning slightly before shining a small torchlight in his eye. Kakashi nodded, wincing at the bright light. Rin asked him to follow her finger with his eyes as she moved it up, down, right, left, close and far. Sighing, with what seemed to be relief, she straightened and nodded. 'I know what's wrong. When I…well, when I transplanted…well, you know, it seems that I didn't repair some of your eye muscles properly, so now that you've been growing a lot, it's starting to give you a little trouble. At least that's what I expect. Don't worry,' she said, smiling with a brave face, 'I'll have you fixed up in no time. Let me consult some scrolls and another medical nin before I do anything rash. Just sit tight.' Rin left the room and Kakashi felt incredibly guilty, for he knew that Rin was suffering horribly behind her valiant façade.

As if confirming his suspicions, she sighed heavily on the other side of the shut door. Kakashi heaved a sigh to match hers, staring mindlessly at the white walls before him. He knew that it was going to be a while before Rin came back with any sure conclusion. Letting his thoughts carry him off to a far away place, he continued to stare blankly ahead at the walls for some odd number of minutes (or possibly hours, he wasn't sure) until a crash outside broke his reverie. Fearing that Rin may be involved, he jumped out of the bed he'd been sitting on, ignoring the shooting pain in his left eye, raced to the door and threw it open, looking for whatever or whoever had caused the crash. Upon seeing nothing or any one peculiar at his eye-level, he glanced down to find some unknown nurse sprawled on the floor, a tray of someone's lunch now scattered across the ground. Being the polite person he was, he gathered the food up off the floor, placing it once again on the tray before turning back to the woman on the ground and helping her up. The woman blushed in embarrassment at the situation, even more so when she realized who was helping her. Kakashi, not exactly feeling sociable at the moment, nodded politely to her and made his way back over to the door. He was about to walk through it when another sharp pain moved through his eye and he fumbled with his hitai-ate, trying to quickly pull it over the still exposed Sharingan. The world around him began to blur, the nurse he'd just helped up turning to an indistinct mix of yellow and white, the voices around him becoming slow, distorted vibrations. The last thing he heard before falling back was a shriek of 'Kakashi!' and the sound of running footsteps.

Rin sat beside an unconscious Kakashi, pretending to read his health chart but actually keeping an eye on the uneven rise and fall of his chest. She had already checked his vital signs several times. Although in a critical state, his condition was stable. Rin was confounded. She had only been gone a matter of minutes before she heard a crash - which she later found out was a nurse tripping and falling - and when she went to investigate she saw said nurse looking worriedly at a swaying Kakashi. When he began to fall Rin screamed his name before rushing forward and called for help. While she had been pouring over some scrolls, Rin had been thinking about how she and Kakashi would go to Ichiraku's for dinner when she fixed him. Now, though, that seemed a far off possibility. Through all of this, the memory of Obito had been lurking at the back of Rin's mind, but now that she was quietly thinking, that memory pushed itself to the forefront of her thoughts, creating a familiar nest in her heart laden with eggs of sorrow, guilt and grief. Rin clutched her chest where she could feel Obito's memory squeezing her heart with icy talons. Rin looked over at Kakashi, but her eyes couldn't linger long. Another egg of guilt had been laid. _I have to make you better_, she thought, _For Obito. _Rin stood on shaky legs and walked slowly to the window. She closed her eyes to search the depths of her mind for an answer of some sort, of any sort. After what seemed like an eternity, she opened her eyes and with a calm demeanour turned and said, 'I know what's wrong with you now.'

When Kakashi had regained consciousness, the first thing he saw was Rin standing over him looking over a medical chart. He gave a shudder of disgust as he realized he was still in the hospital. But why? What had happened? Turning to Rin, he awaited an explanation. 'You passed out,' she provided simply, 'but at least I know what's wrong with you now.' Expectantly, he looked up at her, hoping she would continue. 'The Sharingan is depleting your chakra reserves at a rapid rate. Even though you are a genius, the Sharingan is meant to only reside within Uchiha Clan members because supposedly, they have a chakra reserve like no other in this planet. Simply put Kakashi, the Sharingan doesn't like you; in fact, it's trying to kill you. Have you been experiencing any heavy fatigue or drowsiness?' She paused as he nodded in response. 'Well, it's that eye's fault. Keep it hidden and it shouldn't give you too much trouble. If you need to use it though, I'd say to use it no longer than 10 minutes or you'll be out for a good two weeks or more. I've checked the scrolls; a few implants like the one I gave you have been done over the years but only between Uchiha, and even then the survival rate was small. It seems that your body is willing to co-operate with the Sharingan, and that's why you haven't died yet,' she concluded. Well, that had been a cheerful explanation.

Kakashi heaved himself up into a sitting position and lightly touched his closed Sharingan eye. 'So that's it? As long as I don't use the Sharingan for too long I won't…die?' Rin nodded as she put his medical chart down. Kakashi looked at her, a little dazed. Quickly though, he recovered an austere demeanour and asked hopefully if he could go home. For him it was just another brush with death. Rin told him no, definitely not in his condition. Kakashi didn't try to argue the point. After an awkward silence, they simultaneously said, 'It's okay if you're sad about Obito!' Kakashi's eye widened while Rin looked away. They both lapsed into another awkward silence. _What a stupid thing to say, _thought Kakashi. _Of course she's sad. If I'm remembering and feeling horrible, then there's no reason to think that Rin's not sad too. _'Sorry, Rin,' he muttered, feeling like an absolute idiot. 'Uh, thanks for letting me know about the Sharingan and all…' He couldn't look to see her reaction. He would die if she were crying or even frowning. He hated seeing her down. It tore him to shreds, especially if it was a gloom that he could've prevented. Right now he wished they were sitting together at Ichiraku's, Rin would be smiling as they ate their hot ramen. Of course that wish was merely that, a wish, far from the cold dread he felt in this stark hospital room.

He only felt worse when he heard her speak. 'Yeah…' she'd trailed off, voice full of sorrow and possibly desperation. Kakashi could practically hear her tearing up and that's why he was so surprised when she popped up beside him smiling. 'Well, it seems that you're going to have to stay here for a couple of days,' he groaned, 'but I'll try and get off from the children's ward to come supervise you so you won't be lonely.' Kakashi nodded in agreement and he was pleased to note that her smile grew even wider. 'Oh, rain check for Ichiraku's? Doesn't seem like we'll be able to go for a while,' she remarked. Once again, he nodded, not trusting his voice to give a proper answer. He wasn't even sure what it would sound like. Still smiling, she waved to him and notified him that she'd be back later, shutting the door quietly as she left.

Kakashi smiled quietly to himself as he stared at the door Rin had just closed. Her positiveness had caused a peaceful and happy feeling to blossom forth in his chest. During the next week or so, Rin, as promised, visited Kakashi regularly, often bringing a horde of children with her for reading time which came to be Kakashi's favourite part of his stay in the hospital. The children would pile onto his bed, one or two on his lap, some lying on either side of him and a few at his feet. If there were many children they would kneel around the bed gripping his blanket with their little hands, all of them listening raptly to Rin, their eyes glued to the older girl while she animatedly told stories of brilliant heroes and notorious villains. Kakashi watched her read sitting on a chair next to his bed; he smiled when she glanced up at him from time to time to make sure he wasn't laughing at her.

On his last night at the hospital when he was back to eating decent solid meals and could operate his body fairly well, Rin came into his room with his medical chart to do his last overall check. They talked as Rin checked his limbs, ears, mouth and eyes. When she finished she stepped back, smiled and said, 'Well, you're all clear! Just remember what I told you about using the Sharingan.' She made him repeat it to her despite his eye rolls. 'I need to make sure you don't end up in here in such a critical state again! Then again, the kids have become quite attached to you, so maybe I should keep you here for a little bit longer!' Reminding her that he needed to start training again as soon as possible, Kakashi stood up and tested his muscles and body. 'Tsk, tsk, you need to rest still, Kakashi-kun. I want you to sleep like a log tonight before you leave tomorrow, 'kay?'

'Okay,' he replied. Rin nodded good night to him and was just about to open the sliding door to leave when she heard him call out, 'Wait!'

Surprised, she turned back and arched an eyebrow, clearly asking the question _what?_ Kakashi looked around furtively as she glanced back at him. Shit, he hadn't gotten so far as to think of something to say afterwards; he'd simply wanted her to stay a little longer. 'What? No bedtime story?' he'd managed to pull out, it being the best excuse he could think of. Rin chuckled at his excuse, thinking that he had probably spent too much time around the small children in her ward. Deciding to humour him, she smiled and nodded her head then made a motion with her hand; pointing her fingers to the left as if to say, _let me go get my book_. He had given a small wave notifying her that it was ok to go and she simply smiled innocently at him, leaving and returning quickly with a large book of fairytales in her arms. Pulling up a chair next to his bed, Rin opened the book to the last story she had told the kids: Little Red Riding Hood.

'Oh good,' Kakashi had remarked upon seeing the title, 'I don't think I've heard that one.'

Before starting, Rin explained that she was using these stories telling times to teach the kids important life lessons and morals. Kakashi remarked that it was a very smart way of teaching them, which Rin was highly pleased with. In a bit more of a chipper mood, despite her exhaustion, she animatedly read the story to him and when she finished she saw that he was wearing a frown on his face. Asking him what was wrong, Kakashi responded, 'What kind of parent would let their young daughter go off on her own? Shouldn't she have someone to protect her from people/creatures like the big, bad Wolf?' Rin laughed good-naturedly at his reply, knowing that it was not meant to be humorous in the slightest but she still found it so.

'Well Kakashi,' she told him while fluffing his pillow one last time before departing, 'we don't all have people like you in our lives.'

'I hope you're not comparing me to the Big Bad Wolf, Rin,' Kakashi called after her, a small smile on his face. Rin popped her head around the door and poked her tongue out at him good-naturedly before leaving. Kakashi leaned back into his plump and fluffed pillow and sighed contentedly. Tomorrow he would do some light training, simply getting his body back into shape, and then he might drop off that report he'd written for his sensei, Namikaze Minato. Oh, he also had to run some small errands for a few people, and he had to get rid of the milk in his fridge, which by now would be off and smelly…With so many things to do Kakashi wondered if he would have time to visit Rin. It would be lonely without her and the kids around. Kakashi pushed these thoughts out of his mind and decided to get some sleep so he could wake up nice and early tomorrow. Come the morning when Rin came to see Kakashi off, she was disappointed to see that he had already gone, leaving a neatly made bed and a note on his pillow. It said that he was feeling fine and that he would come to visit on her night shift. Rin nodded to herself and put the note in her pocket and went to check on some patients. Throughout the morning there were odd spaces of time here and there where she would normally pop in on Kakashi, but now she would only stare out of windows or fix bed sheets.

She went home in the late morning feeling uninspired and tired, knowing that her night shift would go slowly until Kakashi came, _if _he came. She knew he was very busy, a week of important things to do having been piled up until today, all of them long overdue. Come the late afternoon when Rin went back to the hospital, the only thing that cheered her up were the smiling faces of the sick kids in the children's ward. Of course, they were disappointed when they found out that Kakashi wouldn't be around any more. Rin put on a broad smile though as she pulled out a colourful book. The children settled around her and she began to read. She caught herself glancing up at the door between pages to see if Kakashi would come in smiling and say, "This is my favourite part of the day, did you think I would miss it?" Rin was glad he was better, but deeply saddened that she would be seeing much less of him again.

True to his word, Kakashi had popped in during the night shift to let her know that he'd be leaving tomorrow morning on another mission and would return in a few days to a week. Upon noticing her dismayed reaction, he quickly made the offer to wait for her shift to finish and walk her home. Rin seemed to perk up at that, nodding her head vigorously and then moving around the hospital rapidly trying to cut the things she had left to do in half. While Rin set out to cleaning the children's ward as well as healing a few of the kids' newly acquired scrapes and bruises, Kakashi spent the time around the children who had been diagnosed with insomnia and were unable to sleep for most of the night.

Finally finishing up well past midnight, Rin and Kakashi left the hospital and began their trek back to their homes. Along the way, Kakashi had thanked her once again for treating him and had politely asked how her day had gone. Rin had told him that it was rather uneventful but nevertheless happy because one of the child cancer patients had fully healed and was discharged. She'd then asked how his day had been, to which he responded that it had been busy. The pair amused themselves with small talk until they reached Rin's home. He bid her goodnight and she wished him good luck, reminding him to be careful on the mission. Kakashi assured her that he would come back safe and sound and then they'd have their raincheck dinner at Ichiraku's. Rin beamed, happy to hear the proposition. Kakashi had smiled and nodded to her, before walking back to his own apartment.

The next morning he was at the gates of Konoha, making sure he had everything before departing for his mission. It would be an easy one, albeit a long one, for all he needed to do was travel to Sunagakure to retrieve some information from the Kazekage. Setting off, the only thing on his mind was completing the mission as quickly as possible and returning safely to have his dinner at Ichiraku's. He'd returned to Konoha five days later, going straight to the Hokage and delivering his information from the Kazekage. After handing in his mission report, Kakashi headed directly in the direction of the hospital, where he knew that Rin would be working her shift. In such a rush, he almost toppled over a small child in the middle of one of the streets.

'Kakashi nii-san!' the young boy in front of him called out. Kakashi looked down at the small child, instantly recognizing him as one of the patients in the children's ward. He knew nothing about the kid in front of him, except that he had been in the cancer wing of the children's ward. Wanting to move on and get to the hospital, he greeted the child before trying to gently push his way around him. The boy immediately latched on to Kakashi's leg, screaming and for the first time, Kakashi noticed the scared look in his eyes. 'Kakashi nii-san! You have to come with me! You have to come to the hospital!' Kakashi assured the child that that was where he was just about to go, but the young boy screamed even louder at this. 'But you have to hurry, Kakashi nii-san! You have to hurry! It's about Rin nii-chan! Something's wrong with Rin nii-chan!'

Kakashi's chest tightened at this. He scooped the little boy up and began running to the hospital, all the while asking what was wrong with Rin, but the boy wouldn't say, or more specifically, didn't have the vocabulary or knowledge to explain and was therefore only making himself frustrated. Kakashi's mind was racing at a furious pace when the hospital came into vision and he sprinted through its doors, nearly toppling a young nursemaid. He paused to let her regain balance before asking where Rin was. The girl, who was already deeply intimidated by Kakashi, got scared when she told him she didn't know and he exhaled through his teeth angrily. Briskly brushing past her he swept into the child's ward like a hurricane, searching each and every room when he suddenly realised something. There were hardly any kids around. The only ones he saw were the bedridden ones who looked at him with alarmingly sad eyes. He ran into a corridor and looked down it to see all the missing mobile children crowded around a particular door. The little boy in his arms, who he now set down, kept saying that that was where Rin was. Kakashi strode to the closed door with the children gathered around it and pushed it open to find a small common room with a table in the middle and kitchen facilities to one side. Sitting at the table nursing a steaming cup of coffee was Rin, tears streaming down her face. She looked like she had been crying for some time, for her face was red and her eyes puffed up. When some of the children saw her they started bawling.

Rin quickly looked up and saw Kakashi looking at her, utterly confused. 'Oh, Kakashi! I didn't expect you to get back so soon!' she said, wiping her face with her sleeve. 'Come in. Do you want a coffee?' Kakashi stepped inside, looking unreservedly dazed and puzzled. The children came in too; slightly calmed that Rin nii-chan had stopped weeping, though her nose was still cherry red and her cheeks tearstained.

Rin, seeing Kakashi so perplexed, lightly touched her face and shook her head. Was she…embarrassed? 'Oh, this…I wish I could say something like "I was chopping onions and started crying", but, it's nothing like that. I…The head-nurse gave me this book to read,' she said, holding up a book Kakashi hadn't noticed. A child climbed onto Rin's lap and she stroked his head. 'It was so sad! There was a woman and a man, and she had a baby, and then her friend died, and the baby was sick and…Ah, it was so heart-rending!' She rattled off a long list of all the dramas she read in the book, and by the end of it, Kakashi was staring at her with narrowed eyes. 'What?' she asked innocently. He told her that the kids had been worried sick about her and had called him to check on her.

Rin looked at the sombre faces of the children. 'Oh I'm sorry, guys! I just read a sad book! I'm sorry I upset you. I tell you what; I'll make it up to you by buying you all ice-cream! 'K'?' The children's faces brightened immediately and all agreed thoroughly. Rin turned to her disgruntled team-mate and said, 'Would you mind, Kakashi?' He stared at her, scowling. He muttered something about getting troubled for nothing and now having to treat everyone to ice-cream out of his own pocket, but he compliantly went along with it, and was only motivated by Rin's beaming face. _Geez, _he thought, _how could I say no?_

Rin left to go ask permission to take them outside for ice cream from the head nurse, and she'd come back when she'd received an affirmative. She and Kakashi walked with the kids -all of whom had grabbed on to their various limbs- down to the ice-cream parlour. Upon arrival, Rin suggested that they divide into two groups. 'Alright, now we're going to temporarily split up into two groups! All of you who want to go with Kakashi, stand next to him, and whoever wants to be in my group, stay by me!' Rin was surprised, to say the least, when about 80 of the children had flocked towards Kakashi with a big cry of _'Kakashi-nii san!' _Kakashi could only gasp and give periodical shouts as the kids attached themselves to him, turning him into a human playground. Rin laughed at the sight of him being attacked by all these young kids but her expression softened when she realized that he didn't seem to mind. In fact, now he was carrying one child in each of his arms, one on his back and two attached to his legs, walking awkwardly and making monster sounds with them to the other kids.

'Kakashi!' Rin called out to him, his response being only a turn of the head to her direction. 'I have a better idea! Why don't I stay in line for the ice cream while you supervise the kids?' He gave a shrug, signalling that he was ok with it, and headed towards the nearest bench, the children flocking after him like seagulls after bread. When Rin came back 15 minutes later, carrying entire tubs of ice cream, the kids temporarily forgot about Kakashi's presence and allowed him to have some free time. 'Hey,' Rin greeted, sitting down next to him, 'having fun?'

Kakashi gave a mock groan and smiled, 'My back is killing me.'

Rin giggled at his complaint, 'I'll heal it later if you like.'

'Nah,' Kakashi shook his head, 'save your chakra for these kids. What you're doing for them is really good; maybe at least this generation is going to get to know what a childhood should be like,' he ruffled the hair of one of the kids who came up to him. 'Maybe they'll get to know real happiness and friendship.' Rin glanced sympathetically at him, smiling softly.

By the time the tubs of ice-cream were empty; the kids had the stuff smeared all on their faces and down their tops and their hands were sticky with sweetness. Kakashi grimaced when they raced up to him and latched on with their adhesive limbs. _Ew. _Rin tittered at the expression on his face. After having paid for the ice-cream, the whole group travelled to a nearby park with a real playground, not a human one. It was an odd sight: the great Hatake Kakashi, elite shinobi of Konoha, sitting at a bench with Rin smiling at a herd of sick children. This was unheard of and warranted a few stares. Ignoring the intent looks, Rin and Kakashi small talked for a while. He told her about his mission and she told him more about the 'fantastic' book she read.

Eventually they simply sat in contented silence, until one of the children suddenly had a dire coughing fit and Rin swooped over to ease his breathing back to normal. They all journeyed back to the hospital after that, Rin didn't want any more accidents happening while there was only one medical nin –herself-- around. At the hospital Kakashi helped settle the children and stayed to sit through reading time. Hours passed and eventually all the kids were fast asleep in bed. Kakashi sat with Rin, each tending to a steaming cup of tea.

'You're really good with kids, you know?' said Rin. Kakashi muttered something modestly. Rin smiled wistfully and mused, 'If I ever have children, I want to have lots of them, at least four, if not more. It's always been my dream to live in a house that smelt of apple pie and with kids coming home from the Academy and telling me about their day.' Kakashi smiled and told her she'd been reading way too many books, but he agreed that a life without children would be lonesome.

Changing the subject Rin said, 'It's been a hard couple of weeks, ne?' Kakashi nodded but remained silent. 'Oh, hey! I almost forgot about our ramen raincheck!' exclaimed Rin with a sudden burst of effervescence. 'I know it's late, but do you want to go now? I'm sure Ichiraku's open, I swear that guy never sleeps, he lives and breathes ramen. I'm kind of hungry anyway; I couldn't eat after reading such a sad book.' Kakashi smiled at her and told her sure; he would love to have ramen with her.

The two left the hospital together, heading directly towards Ichiraku's. When they arrived, Teuchi had promptly taken their order and had set it down in front of them just minutes later. Kakashi, as always, ate so quickly that Rin barely had slurped down a few of her noodles and he was already done. Noticing that he had gotten some food on his face, she frowned and reached over with a napkin to wipe off a bit of the condiments that had stuck to his face. Unprepared for this action, Kakashi pulled away, startled, while at the same time, Rin, who had literally been on the edge of her seat, fell forward when he'd pulled away, bringing them both crashing to the ground. He had ended up lying down flat on his back, arms spread out to the sides and she'd ended up on top of him, wrists holding her up; arms on either sides of his head and her legs on either sides of his hips. Needless to say, they both felt the awkwardness of the situation and both their faces quickly began to turn a nice reddish hue. Scrambling, Rin hoisted herself into a standing position and let turned her head to the right, her face still red from embarrassment. It didn't help that Genma had just happened to walk by and see the whole thing happen, commenting on his way, 'Wow guys, sexual tension much?' Kakashi had thrown a death glare and a pair of chopsticks at the boy's head.

After said tension was cleared around five minutes later, Rin asked Kakashi, 'Are you going to be home next Friday? I mean, do you have any missions?' He shrugged. 'I don't know yet. Why?' Rin, instead of immediately responding started to fidget. 'Well, I was wondering, you know, if you're not busy or it's not too stupid or anything, if you'd want to come by the hospital next Friday at 7PM. The kids are putting on this play for their parents and it's supposed to be like this musical dance thing and- But I don't want to force you to come or anything. I mean, only if you want-'

He cut her off, nodding in agreement to her proposition, 'Like I said, I don't know if I'll be on a mission this Friday so I can't make any promises but I'll try to come. I want to see how the whole thing turns out.'

At this, she began to describe the play animatedly, 'That's great! They've been working on it and rehearsing for about 2 months now and I'm sure that it would mean the world to them if you came! It's going to be about one and a half hours long and they're going to do dance pieces in all the different styles: jazz, tap, ballet hip-hop…a little bit of everything! If you can only stay for a little bit then come for the ballet part because the little ones are going to be dancing that part and we got them little ballet costumes and oh! It's going to be so adorable!'

Intrigued by what she had told him, the next day Kakashi had headed towards the Hokage tower and asked the Hokage to make sure that whatever mission he was going to be assigned left him open for Friday evening. The Hokage didn't oppose to Kakashi's request and thus, he was assigned only a B-rank which would last a maximum of 10 hours. Sure enough, come Friday night at 7PM, Kakashi was among many parents in the audience of the play. The play was the childrens' re-telling of the various stories they'd been read over the course of their hospital stay. Boys and girls dressed in casual wear danced hip hop in their musical version of Little Red Riding Hood, Sleeping Beauty was done by a few children with tap shoes, and jazz choreography along with music from the soundtrack was used to tell the tale of Cinderella.

The ballerina role came last for the tiny kids who were doing Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Rin had emerged first on stage, dressed in a light pink tutu with bows and a black turtleneck underneath. Bows were on the straps of her tutu and one more was placed behind her head. Lighting effects were focused on her, and light green glitter fell down from over her head, its use to look like falling leaves. Doing a small pirouette to signal the audience to applause, she turned her head towards off-stage, where, without a doubt, there were 7 little children all dressed up in either tutus or pants and a shirt, anxiously awaiting their roles. The children took her look as a sign to come on stage, and did so reluctantly but cheerfully, skipping along the stage, smiles growing as the applause intensified. Kakashi watched the whole scene unfurl with a small smile, enjoying the play tremendously and thinking that the smaller kids (who were no more than 4 or 5 years of age) were adorable in their get-ups, and that Rin looked different, in a good way tonight. He made a mental note to visit her backstage when the show was over to commend her on her efforts.

The children's act was clumsily cute and received a standing ovation from the proud audience of parents, and, of course, Kakashi. The curtains fell closed to the scene of the children, and Rin, bowing, waving and laughing with delight at the upbeat response of their audience and at how much fun they'd had. The lights were turned on and the parents shuffled to the back of the hall to enjoy some refreshments and wait for their children. Kakashi though, weaved through the empty chairs and slipped backstage to congratulate Rin and the young cast. At the sight of him, the children swarmed forward, all eagerly awaiting their craved praise, which they received bountifully from Kakashi.

Rin emerged in the throng of children, a broad smile on her cheery face. She dusted some glitter off her nose and asked, 'So, what did you think? Pretty good, ne?'

Kakashi smiled a little, 'Couldn't have done better myself.'

Rin chortled and shook her head, 'Now that's a scary thought!' Then, turning to the children she declared that everyone should go out and hear the parents' feedback. The children, not waiting to be led, raced from the backstage area to trace their parents and soak in the adulation. Kakashi and Rin watched them dash away before turning to each other.

'Have fun?' asked Kakashi.

Rin replied, 'You bet. It really satisfies me to see them so happy. A few of them are beginning a long healing treatment tomorrow, so they'll have this to remember during the worst of it. Yeah, well…Thanks for coming, Kakashi. The kids…they really appreciated it. Me too, of course! I know you're probably tired from your missions and it was a real effort to get here when you could've been somewhere else and-'

Kakashi cut her off. 'Rin, it's okay, I _wanted _to be here. I wouldn't have missed it for some lame mission. Seeing you in a ballerina get-up beats being a shinobi any day!'

Rin's mouth widened. 'Kakashi! I told you it was a ballet act! I wouldn't wear this if I didn't have to!'

Kakashi laughed. 'I was kidding, Rin, you look great. I bet that glitter's going to be a pain to get off, though…'

Rin nodded as she tried to wipe some of it off her forehead. 'Yeah, no matter what you do, glitter just sticks to your skin like there's no tomorrow! Heh…Um, Kakashi?' He regarded her with a questioning eye. 'What is it?'

Just as Rin was about to say something, a parent from the crowd called her name. Rin sighed heavily, but put on a smiling face and walked over to where said parent was praising her for the good work on her child and she was surprised that her son had even participated in something like this for he was originally anti-social. Taking in the compliments while dishing out some of her own, Rin snuck furtive glances to the clock, watching it tick away the minutes of her life, and diminish the courage she had mustered up to tell Kakashi what she had wanted to. Finally, after what seemed like aeons, the satisfied parent waded back into the crowd of families, leaving Rin to make her way back to Kakashi.

'What was it that you were going to tell me?' he inquired when she came back.

All courage gone, Rin answered tiredly, 'Nothing…can you wait for me though? I want to get out of this outfit and then leave.' Kakashi nodded obediently, claiming that he'd be right in this spot waiting. Rin smiled thankfully at him before disappearing behind a large, painted set of cardboard houses to change back into her normal clothes. Kakashi spent his time watching the big clock on the wall. Five minutes passed…ten minutes…fifteen and still no sight of Rin. What was she doing back there? As if reading his mind, she called to him, slightly panicked, 'Kakashi…we have a problem!'

Immediately alerted by the tone of her voice, he responded sounding just as panicked, 'What is it?' A few moments of pause. 'Rin?' He made a move to go over to where he had seen her disappear but her answer made him stop dead in his tracks.

'I-I can't undo the zipper Kakashi!'

Kakashi felt all air leave his lungs. 'What?'

'I said, I can't undo the zipper to the tutu! It's stuck!' she repeated. Not wanting to get into doing the job himself, Kakashi quickly went on stage and surveyed the room the play had been in. Much to his chagrin, he noted that the parents had taken their children and left already. Feeling a lump form in his throat, he swallowed nervously, hoping that in the time he was gone Rin had managed to triumph in her battle with the stubborn zipper. Getting back to his place, he found that he had no such luck. She was still there, and it was still stuck. Damn it. 'Kakashi! Get over here and help me!'

His heart beat erratically at her words and his mind raced just as quickly, trying to find an escape route from this embarrassing situation. 'How about I go outside and find some nurse to help you?' he suggested. 'We'll never get out of here if you try and find help!' she whined.

'Come on, it's not that big of a deal! Just get over here and help me!' Realizing that he really did have no other choice, Kakashi paced reluctantly over to where Rin was, being met with her face flushed pink in embarrassment and vexation.

'So where's the problem zipper?' he questioned, wanting to get it over with as rapidly as possible. Rin pointed to the fine black mechanism in the back of her tutu and Kakashi's hands began to sweat as he noted just how low that zipper went when opened. Carefully, he took the black zipper in his hands and tugged at it, finding that indeed it was stuck. He tugged harder, but the zipper was putting up just as much of a fight as he was. On the third tug however, it gave way and slid smoothly all the way down, stopping on Rin's lower back. Zipper still in hand, Kakashi's mind went blank and his face heated up severely. _Stop staring, stop staring, stop staring, don't make yourself look like a complete idiot and pervert_, was the mantra his sanity was chanting at him, but his brain had seemed to shut down all his nervous response systems.

He only snapped out of his reverie moments later when Rin asked him 'Did you get it?'

Kakashi pulled his hand off the zipper, turning his back to Rin and just about ready to run away in embarrassment, and he replied, 'Yeah, I'm going to just wait outside while you get changed. It's really stuffy in here and I need some fresh air.' He didn't even wait for a response, simply choosing to bolt out the backstage exit. Relieved to have escaped, and possibly even more relieved that his body had gone back to normal, he took in the fresh night air, letting it fill and cool his senses. The dizziness he had previously been experiencing in the small backstage area seemed to have subsided and his heart rate had returned to its regular pace.

Minutes later, Rin emerged from behind the exit door as well, seemingly oblivious to all that had just gone on with Kakashi, and the two of them walked in the direction of her apartment. After having calmed down, Kakashi remembered a question that he had for the girl before him and decided that now would be the best time to ask it. 'You know you can tell me anything right?'

Rin looked up, surprised to hear him say something like that. 'Y-yeah… I know,' she responded.

'So then,' he continued, wanting to hear another question answered, 'what was it that you were going to tell me before, when I came backstage?'

He regarded her with attentive ears, though he was dismayed when she began blushing and struggling to articulate, and she couldn't seem to look him in the eye. What on Earth could she want to tell him that would put her in such a shy and blubbering state? Or perhaps there was something wrong with him? _Is my fly undone? _Kakashi checked himself but found that his clothing was organised and decent, and there was nothing gross on his face like food. What was wrong?

Finally, though, after much wrist-wringing and with her eyes on her feet Rin managed to blurt out, 'What-I've-been-meaning-to-say-for-a-really-really-long-time-now-though-I-haven't-gotten-around-to-it-and-I'm-really-sorry-but-what-I-really-wanted-to-say-was-a-sincere-and-genuine-thank-you-for-everything-you-have-done-for-me-and-the-kids-and-for-being-a-really-good-friend-and-for-never-letting-me-down-and-for-keeping-your-promise-to-Obito-and-for-helping-out-at-the-hospital-and-buying-everyone-ice-cream-and-for-being-so-brave-when-you-had-problems-with-your-Sharingan-and…and…just, thank-you!' Rin gasped for breath at the end of this declaration before raising her eyes tentatively to see Kakashi's reaction. She was almightily pleased when she sighted a wide smile beneath her friend's mask.

'You were nervous just to say that?' asked Kakashi. Rin looked away, embarrassed. 'Thank-you too, Rin, for everything.'

She looked up at him with bright eyes before poking him affectionately in the arm and saying, 'Buy me ramen?'

Kakashi rolled his eye but laughed. 'Typical, always with ulterior motives…'

She simply just grinned up at him and they changed their direction towards Ichiraku's Ramen stand. As usual Teuchi greeted them with a smile and simply began preparing their orders, having already memorized what they liked and he was about to set the two steaming bowls of noodle-y goodness in front of the pair when Rin held up her hand. Turning to Kakashi, she asked him, 'Can we eat these in the park or something?'

He looked at her hesitantly. 'I don't know…it's pretty dark out. I don't know how safe the park is.'

She frowned in thought until an idea popped into her head. 'In front of the park? On the stairs leading up?' she looked hopefully up at him. He still looked down at her hesitantly. 'Please?' she pleaded, looking back up at him with puppy-dog eyes.

Kakashi sighed heavily. 'Fine. We'll take these to go,' he told Teuchi, pulling a few bills out of his wallet. The pair walked again in near silence until they reached the stairs. Here, Rin tried once again to convince Kakashi to go up.

'Please can we go up to the park?' she asked again, and Kakashi was beginning to think the kids had rubbed off on her a little too much.

'It's not safe,' he reminded her.

'Oh, come on Kakashi! I'm sure we can defend ourselves against the drug users or whatever that are up there!' Again he sighed, a sure sign that he'd given in.

'Fine.' When they reached the top of the stairs, Rin hurried to a bench under a lamppost in the park and sat down on it. Kakashi took a seat next to her and began eating. After they'd both finished, Rin took the bag with their garbage and deposited it into the nearest garbage can. She was just about to reach the bench when she fell back and remained lying on the ground. In a flash Kakashi was next to her, asking her what was wrong. She calmed him down by saying that she had fallen on purpose and he held out an arm to pull her up. Rin took the offered arm but instead of using it to lift herself up, she used it to tug him down beside her. Collapsing to the ground in a heap beside her, he turned his head to glare at her before readjusting himself to lie flat on his back.

'So what are we looking at?' he inquired curiously.

'The stars,' Rin replied simply, 'I wanted to come up here 'cause you get a better look at them when you're up higher. They just shine brighter.'

'That's just stupid,' muttered Kakashi, but he peered at the twinkling stars anyway. 'They don't shine brighter; they're just easier to see.'

Rin rolled her eyes at him. 'Shh! Haven't you ever star-gazed before?' Kakashi put his hands behind his head and shrugged in response. Rin looked back up at the velvety sky and sighed. 'It's simply beautiful. You know, we should do this more often.'

Kakashi glanced at her, 'What? Star gaze?'

Rin gave him a look. 'Not just star gaze, I mean spend some good quality time together. It's been…nice having you around more. Wouldn't you agree?' Kakashi felt touched. Nobody had ever expressed such appreciation of his presence before. It felt good to be…needed.

'Yeah,' he said quietly, 'It is nice.' They both lay in contented silence, comfortable in each other's company. Kakashi, on an impulse, took his hands out from behind his head and held Rin's hand in his. Rin squeezed and smiled at him. His heart pounded gleefully in his chest. Staring up at the scintillating stars, one thought permeated Kakashi's mind: _On second thought, the stars _do _look brighter… _

* * *

**In Darkness Is Light's Author Note:** Well, long as it may have been, I sincerely hope that you enjoyed! (Possibly enough to leave us a review…?) The tandem is done, and I hope you've had fun, reading this fic that deserved more than one review. Aha! Rhyming!

**Snappa's An/N: **Ha! Rhyming rules. If you're not to blue, not down with the flu, not visiting the zoo, or drinking some stew, our tandem debut, if you've read please do, leave us a review, please, thank you! :D


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